Information needed on John Mack Long

I have researched John Mack Long dob 1906 on Ancestry.com, I have only been able to find him on the 1930 census, married to Lillian Joy. He was born in Mississippi, I have not been able to find anything else on him. Where can I look to trace his bloodline?

try to get john mack long’s birth certificate or delayed birth certificate – ask for both at the state of mississippi vital records office. everyone that was alive 1/1/1937 filed a social security application and they would have had to submit a birth record to show proof of age. often this was a delayed birth certificate or birth certificate.

you can check with the mississippi choctaw tribe, but the family likely did not apply for a tribe in mississippi, since they were living in OK in 1929.

you can check other oklahoma tribes, there are 63 tribes. location is a major factor in tribal affiliation. so check nearby tribes.

genealogists use names, dates, locations, children and spouses to match records. if you have a common

surname, you need to give more information rather than less. if you post about women, it is helpful to

include the maiden name and the married name and designate which one is the maiden name.

start with what you know, gather documentation, then you can go backward in time. so get your birth

certificate, your parents’ birth certificates and marriage license and then you can start on your

grandparents. if someone passed away after 1/1/1937, they probably have a social security application on

file. if you ask a government agency for a birth certificate, and they were born before 1929, they might

have submitted a delayed birth certificate. death certificates, cemetery information and obituaries are

helpful. you can usually get a copy of an obituary, newspaper mentions such as birth of a child or

marriage, through the interlibrary loan program – see your local public library for this. i usually start

with the death and work toward the person’s birth. military records and pension records can be helpful.

census records can tell you where they were at particular times, names of family members. the census

records up to 1930 are available, although the 1890 census was largely destroyed. the 1940 census will be

public information in 2012.

obituaries through the oklahoma choctaw tribe is through the history link for the tribe:
http://www.choctawnation.com/history/

social security application for a deceased person:
http://www.ssa.gov/foia/html/foia_guide.htm
form SS-5.

your public library probably has a subscription to heritage quest and ancestry.com. fold3.com is another

useful database for native records and military records, but they are a subscription. however, many times

their month’s subscription price is less than the price of a dawes packet, however check with

accessgenealogy’s database to see if your relative’s dawes packet is exists or is available at fold3.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/dawes.php?s_last=green&s_first=mart&s_middle=&s_tribe=
partial names are allowed.

bear in mind that many records are not online. always collect documents, as just the reference to a

relative in an index informs you that a document is available.

death records:
death certificate: state vital records or if very old, state archives. ask for the person’s name at the

time of death. you can look at death indices, such as the social security death index 1964-present for a

date of death on rootsweb.com or ancestry.com.
obituary: see your local public library, interlibrary loan program. ask for the person’s name at the time

of death. approximate date of death is helpful. if old, state historical society or state archives might

have historical newspapers.
cemetery record: try findagrave.com or interment.net. ask for the person’s name at the time of death. if

you find a relative, you can click on the county or cemetery to see if others with the same surname are

buried there.

marriage records:
state vital records office, county clerk or if old, state archives or state historical society.

birth records:
state vital records office, or if old, state archives or state historical society. if the birth was before

1940, ask for a birth certificate or a delayed birth certificate. many people had to get delayed birth

certificates when social security came into effect because they had to show proof of age. this will be

under the name used at the time of birth.

census records:
you will want to search for census records 1940 on down to the birth of your relative. the federal census

was taken every 10 years, however the 1890 census was largely destroyed by fire. there are also some state

census records and native census records and native rolls. ancestry.com and heritage quest are two

databases that include many census records. many native census records kept by NARA

(http://www.archives.gov) are transcribed at accessgenealogy.

first of all, heritage and tribal enrollment are two different things. many times natives didn’t apply for

enrollment because 1) they didn’t qualify, 2) they were philosophically opposed to enrollment, 3) they

didn’t have documentation, or 4) they were mississippi choctaw and their ancestor had accepted land or

benefits in lieu of tribal enrollment.

the dawes roll was taken 1896-1906, so you should trace your ancestors down to that time period. mostly,

they had to be living in oklahoma by that time and agree to live there permanently.

history of the dawes roll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Commission
wikipedia entries are sometimes opinionated; entered by volunteers.

2 ways to search:
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php
this will let you enter partial names to get card#. click on the card# in the card column and you can see

other names in that family.
other resources on the left and at the bottom of this webpage. native census records and databases are

especially useful.

http://www.okhistory.org/research/dawes/index.php
this will give you card# (family group) and enrollment #. they have some native marriage records too. other

oklahoma records listed at left.
if your relative was enrolled by court action, their name might not be on this list.
if the name is common, you may find too many possible records.
you can order the dawes packet from the oklahoma historical society website.

if you find a relative listed on the dawes roll, fold3 may have filmed the record and could be available

the five civilized tribes book put out by the department of the interior has testimony.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Five_civilized_tribes_in_Oklahoma.html?id=chATAAAAYAAJ
and you can read it online

and these are the microfilms at fort worth TX archives.
http://www.archives.gov/southwest/finding-aids/native-american-microfilm.html

there may be additional records about your relative:
contact NARA http://www.archives.gov for these and other records listed on this webpage.

75.23 RECORDS OF THE COMMISSIONER TO THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES 1852-1919
75.23.1 Records of the Dawes Commission
75.23.2 Records of the U.S. Indian Inspector for Indian Territory
75.23.3 General records of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes
http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/075.html
(Record Group 75)
1793-1989

http://okhistory.cuadra.com/star/public.html
oklahoma newspaper and archives search. some of these resources may be available through interlibrary

loan/public library.

the tribe has an excellent information to help you. it is found under genealogy advocacy.
http://choctawnation.com/services/departments/community-services/
some obituaries:
http://www.choctawnation.com/history/obituaries/

some links for the choctaw.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/choctaw/index.htm
i looked at the land records and those need a lot of work. i have no information about whether or when they

will improve some of these categories.

types of records available for native americans:
pages 366-369 in particular although the entire native american chapter is helpful.
The Genealogist’s Companion and Sourcebook:
Guide to the Resources You Need for Unpuzzling Your Past
Emily Anne Croom
you can ask for these particular pages from your local public library. if they don’t have the book, you can

get the pages through the interlibrary loan program.
native american records are discussed in pages 352-386.

Tracing ancestors among the Five Civilized Tribes: Southeastern Indians …
By Rachal Mills Lennon
this book could be accessed through the interlibary loan program also.

always find the state archives. some records are online, some records are not. but many times you can find

a record not found in other places. you want to see also about newspaper mentions for obituaries, births,

marriages in particular.

check courts for probate, civil and criminal cases, marriage records.

if your ancestors lived on a reservation, they might not appear on a federal census because they were not

this book is a good read about the dawes roll and how they implemented it.
The Dawes Commission and the allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914
By Kent Carter
and you can read this book online. your relatives’ testimony might be in the book.
http://www.archive.org/details/fivecivilizedtr00statgoog
see the menu at left. you can download it.

you should look at the enrollment application, census card and testimony. this post will tell you how to

do that. these documents will tell you more about your heritage, but it won’t help you if your goal is to

be enrolled in the choctaw tribe of oklahoma. some people were classed as mississippi choctaw if the

family had a native heritage but didn’t qualify for enrollment in the tribe.

there are 63 tribes in oklahoma but only the five major tribes are on the dawes roll. look at your

family’s location around 1900-1930 time period (census will help you there) and see if there was a tribe

located nearby. it is possible that your relatives were affiliated with another tribe.

if they were mississippi choctaw, there is probably a land grant in MS/AL to a head of household called

choctaw scrip land. this was given in lieu of tribal enrollment 1830-1880 time period. ancestry.com has a

database of the MS and AL choctaw scrip land records, called mississippi or alabama land records. there

are other land records in those databases too,, so you have to look at the authority/source cited. NARA

http://www.archives.gov has those land record packages.

the mississippi choctaw was not removed from oklahoma. but they were largely rejected for tribal

enrollment.

this website might help you in your search. some people are trying to transcribe applications.
http://www.us-census.org/native/choctaw_dawes.html
i do not know what they are trying to transcribe, but this is the volunteer page
http://www.us-census.org/states/graphics/status.htm

and this might be of interest to you:
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/choctaw/rights-of-choctaws.htm
Rights of Mississippi Choctaws in the Choctaw Nation

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalrolls/
Index to the Final Rolls of the Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory
the dawes roll is composed of applications to the five major tribes in oklahoma.

good advice about native research:
http://jenniferhsrn2.homestead.com/research2.html

if your relatives came from a different geographic location or belonged to a different tribe, try searching

google for the state and tribes. you might find a contact for a state-recognized tribe or a federal

recognized tribe.

this page can help you set up a targeted google search.
http://www.searchforancestors.com/google/searcher.html

penny postcards. this is a website that features pictures that were on postcards. click on the state to

see the postcards that they have.
http://www.usgwarchives.org/special/ppcs/ppcs.html
if you have a penny postcard, you can click on submissions to add your penny postcard to the collection.

these searches will combine several possible search terms and give you the best matches.

i have collected many resources over the years. if you want to write to me, shamlet76@gmail.com and request

the choctaw resource list, i will be glad to send it to you.

i am just a volunteer that wants to empower people to learn how to do genealogy.

Thank you so much for all this information. I am trying to trace them for the bloodline. Would you know if this is the type of information that I would need to register my husband and children for tribal benefits? Sorry for my ignorance, this is all new to me, but my husband has asked me to see what I could find.

tribal enrollment and tribal heritage are two different topics.
it appears that your family didn’t qualify for tribal membership in the choctaw tribe in oklahoma.
however, you should look at tribes near where they lived. they may have applied for enrollment and been accepted in one of them. there are 63 tribes in OK, tribes in MS. links to some of them are in my post back to you.

http://www.native-languages.org/mississippi.htm
this has a map. so you should put pins on the map about where your family lived 1830-1930.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/mississippi/
most tribal enrollments occurred 1900-1930. some tribes are still enrolling and trying to get recognition.

http://www.choctaw.org/
mississippi choctaw tribe.

contact the state historical societies and state archives about tribes also.
contact the state native american organization.

you might be able to show a land record called choctaw scrip, to the head of household 1830-1880 or so in MS/AL. this would show tribal heritage but not tribal enrollment. choctaw scrip land was given in lieu of tribal enrollment, at the election of the native in the family.

ancestry.com has a database of those MS and AL land records, and many of the records in those databases are choctaw scrip, chickasaw scrip, etc.

natives who lived on reservation in the 1800’s were not taxed and therefore not on the federal census taken every 10 years. they were on the native census records and databases/rolls.
see the link here, menu on the left.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php

there is no 1890 census, it burned. there are a few shreds remaining, that’s all. people often substitute city directories or veterans census for this census. but most people don’t have a record in 1890.

long is a common surname, john is a common first name. you need documents that are not online. i start with the death and work backwards in time. childrens’ records point to the parents and fix the family to a location and date.

if you get stuck on someone who passed away after 1/1/1937, get a copy of their social security application.

as far as your husband’s question, it does not appear, from the information found, that your family qualified for enrollment in a tribe that i could check. that would be one of the five major tribes of oklahoma. i have no way of checking membership/enrollment records in other tribes in oklahoma, which was why i gave you the links. i also don’t know if they applied for enrollment in a tribe in mississippi and if they were accepted.

membership requirements of a tribe are very important to you. if you find a tribe near where your ancestors were located, contact them and ask about the membership requirements, whether your ancestors had applied for enrollment. your tribal membership depends on a direct ancestor who had been accepted as an original enrollee.

many times, if they were accepted for enrollment, they were given land. if your family were renters 1900-1930, it is very likely that they had not been enrolled in a tribe.

gl.
oh, and put these documents in order. make a heritage book for your children. they will appreciate it.